'Ossian's Gedichte'/'Ossian's Poetry'

The poems of Ossian were popularised by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, who published them in 1762 under the claim that he had translated them from Gaelic into English. While the authencity of Macpherson's claim was brought into question, the Ossianic poems became hugely culturally significant and their popularity soon had international reach.

The first complete translation of the Ossianic poems in German appeared in 1768-69, and it was the first complete translation of the cycle into any language besides English. The translation was the work of Michael Denis, a Bavarian Jesuit scholar based in Vienna.

After Denis' translation, there would be fourteen other translation in German, including this 1817 translation by Johann Gottlieb Rhode in Berlin (pictured).

[Shelfmark Oss.178-179]